<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>When The Sun Goes Down by NinjaSpaz</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28266522">When The Sun Goes Down</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaSpaz/pseuds/NinjaSpaz'>NinjaSpaz</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>HQ Angst Week 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Haikyuu Angst Week 2020, Hurt No Comfort, Illness, Implied Character Death, M/M, OiHina Week, apocalypse au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:55:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,254</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28266522</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaSpaz/pseuds/NinjaSpaz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Before, when the world was still teeming with people, the beach would be swarming with tourists and locals alike at this time of year. There would be screaming children and concerts on the pier and the whizzing of carnival rides at the boardwalk.</p><p>It’s been 5 years since the outbreak, and still Oikawa thinks he will never get used to the quiet.<br/>-<br/>Oikawa tries to find some hope in a hopeless situation. Hinata tries not to discourage him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hinata Shouyou/Oikawa Tooru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>HQ Angst Week 2020 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998049</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>When The Sun Goes Down</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>OiHina Week Day 4: Apocalypse AU<br/>HQ Angst Week Day 4: Illness/Death</p><p>I originally posted this on twitter for OiHina Week but I decided to cross-post it here and realized it also fit one of the angst week prompts I never got around to.<br/>Also, I am so sorry.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun beats down on the pavement from a cloudless sky. The heat radiates from below nearly as much as from above, and Oikawa tugs the hem of his shirt to mop at his brow. He shields his eyes with one hand as he marks the star’s transit in the pale blue expanse. It is just passed its zenith, beginning its leisurely descent to the west. He would have another six hours of daylight at best, more than enough to make it back to the shack and prepare dinner.</p><p>He tightens his free hand around the strap of his bag, shifting it to distribute the weight. Despite his burden, he feels lighter than he has in days. The drugstore he’d discovered had somehow escaped raiding in the years since the outbreak began. A good supply of antibiotics was worth its weight in gold.</p><p>Not that gold carried much weight these days.</p><p>He makes his way along the road for another hour, pausing only occasionally to take a swig from his canteen. He had rationed it for this run, but there was plenty of water back at base. He turns up an overgrown dirt path when he smells the salt on the air. Before, when the world was still teeming with people, the beach would be swarming with tourists and locals alike at this time of year. There would be screaming children and concerts on the pier and the whizzing of carnival rides at the boardwalk.</p><p>It’s been 5 years since the outbreak, and still Oikawa thinks he will never get used to the quiet.</p><p>He kicks the sand off his boots on the peeling porch of the ramshackle hut he’s claimed as a refuge for the last few weeks. It provides decent shelter from the elements, but he doubts it would hold up in a typhoon. “I’m home!” he announces into the single-room shack. He’d had bigger studio apartments in med school.</p><p>In one corner, on top of a makeshift futon, his tiny companion stirs. A shock of orange hair pokes out from the blankets and blinks blearily into the afternoon light pouring through the window. “T’ru?”</p><p>Oikawa is at his side in two strides, kneeling on the creaking wooden floorboards. “Hey there chibi-chan.”</p><p>Hinata smiles weakly at the old nickname. Oikawa’s heart clenches at its dimness. “I’m glad you’re back,” he sighs. “I was worried…you wouldn’t make it.”</p><p>“Of course I did,” Oikawa scoffs. “Who do you take me for?” He gently strokes Hinata’s hair to take the sting out of his words. He tries not to dwell on how brittle it is in his fingers. “I was right, by the way.”</p><p>Hinata hums contentedly under his touch. “Aren’t you always?”</p><p>“Brat,” Oikawa chuckles. He pulls his hand back to open the backpack and reveal his spoils. “The drugstore was still pretty well-stocked. You want it, I’ve probably got it. No shortage of antibiotics here.”</p><p>Hinata’s eyes darken and his lips pull down in a frown. “Tooru, you know that doesn’t—”</p><p>“Trust me Shoyo, you’ll be back to yourself in a few days. If the amoxicillin doesn’t work, I’ve got stronger ones.” He taps his finger to his chin. “Though maybe we should just start with the strong stuff first, really nip it in the bud.”</p><p>Hinata struggles to push himself up off the bed. “They won’t work. We know they won’t.”</p><p>“They will!” Oikawa shouts, desperation slipping through the cracks of his mask. “They have to,” he adds in a whisper. It’s just a bug. They’ve lost so many people. He can’t lose Hinata too.</p><p>He flinches when Hinata’s hands grasp his, pulling them away from the bag with his potential salvation. They’re cold as ice. “There is no cure,” he says, voice unwavering in the face of his looming fate. Oikawa wonders how he can be so calm as time slips through their fingers like sand.</p><p>The thing is, it just wasn’t possible. Hinata was supposed to be immune too. They had been together for years, in and out of hot spots while on the run. How had he never come down with the bug that wiped out humanity back when there were still infected people to transmit it? Why now?</p><p>Oikawa gently squeezes Hinata’s hands. He’s so frail. It breaks Oikawa’s heart to see the light fading from him. His skin has a dull grey pallor, and it looks paper-thin, like it will tear with the slightest pressure. His hair lays limp and dull in his face, and his eyes are pale.</p><p>“Can’t you just let me try?”</p><p>Hinata chuckles, but it turns into a racking cough. Oikawa braces him upright while the tremors course through him. When they subside, Hinata looks up at him with a sad smile. “Save them for someone they’ll actually be of use to.”</p><p>“I have to do something,” Oikawa insists. He doesn’t understand why Hinata has to be so stubborn all the time.</p><p>“Just being here is enough,” he sighs. “Stay with me. Please.”</p><p>“I’m not going anywhere.” <em>And neither are you</em>, he wants to add, but he knows it’s useless. The sun will go down soon.</p><p>Hinata is strong. Too strong to be taken down by a microscopic menace, in Oikawa’s opinion, but even in the face of reality, in the face of death, he is strong. Oikawa has to be strong too. He caresses a gaunt cheek. “Is there anything you want?”</p><p>Hinata leans into the touch and meets Oikawa’s eyes with a look reminiscent of the fire that once burned there. “I want to feel the wind on my face. Will you take me down to the water?”</p><p>Oikawa had never been able to refuse that look, and even in its dimmed form he can’t deny such a simple request. He scoops Hinata up in his arms, draping the blankets over him despite the late summer heat, and carries him down to the shore.</p><p>He sits down in the sand, holding Hinata against his chest as they stare out over another vast, blue expanse. The sun hangs low in the sky, casting a river of molten gold across the water.</p><p>“I think you could do it, you know,” Hinata says after a while.</p><p>Oikawa rests his chin on Hinata’s head. “What’s that?”</p><p>Hinata slips his fingers between Oikawa’s and holds them tightly. “Find a cure.”</p><p>“It’s a little too late for that,” Oikawa says, trying to keep the ridicule from his voice.</p><p>“Maybe for me. But there are still people out there. People who could use your help.” Oikawa tightens his arms around Shoyou’s waist. The only person he wants to help right now won’t be around to see that day.</p><p>They fall silent again, the only sounds Hinata’s slow breaths keeping time with the waves lapping at the shore. The sun kisses the horizon and Oikawa kisses the sun in his arms. He’s grateful Hinata can’t see his tears from this position.</p><p>“Tooru?” His voice is so weak. Oikawa hums acknowledgement, not trusting his own voice not to crack if he speaks. “Promise me you’ll keep going. You have to keep going.”</p><p>He doesn’t want to. Not without Hinata. But what he wants is irrelevant. The new world cares not for what he wants. He’ll do it though, because it’s what Hinata wants. “I promise, Shoyou.”</p><p>Hinata sighs, his head nodding imperceptibly in relief. His grip on Oikawa’s hand slackens, but Oikawa holds on.</p><p>The sun finally dips below the horizon, and Oikawa is left alone in the dark.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I was looking through my archive and realized that almost all my OiHina fics are twitter threads that did not get posted here. So I'm gonna be converting and posting them over the next few days to motivate me to finish my current OiHina AU fic. (Why do I only write them in AUs? Aside from <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23639797">WHIR</a> I don't think I've ever written them in canonverse. Whoops.)</p><p>Anyway, sorry for hurting you with this one. Please feel free to beat me up in the comments, I deserve it. Or come yell at me on <a href="https://twitter.com/anininjaspaz">twitter</a>. See you soon!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>